Like flowing water
by Delirious Rose
Summary: Chihaya has finally understood her feelings for Arata: she knows she must tell him and the right thing to do is to tell him in the flesh, but she knows as well it won't be possible before July. Or at least that-s what she thought. {spoiler of manga's chapter 119}
1. Chapter 1

_Dear reader,_

_before you start reading this little story, I would like to remind that English is not my native language and that, despite all my effort to present you a pleasant, grammar-correct text, the style may sound stiff or not so easy to understand. Please be sympathetic, knowing that I definitely accept all you have to say about how improve my skill._

_Have a nice reading,_

_D. Rose_

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_I think about my love  
__And I would like to be  
__Like an autumn leaf  
__Losing itself to  
__The flowing water.  
_

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**Like flowing water**

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Chihaya's thoughts went more and more often to the semifinals and the last time she had seen Arata: the words he told her, the announcement of his coming back to Tokyo in order to attend the university, had shaken her.

_I'm in love with you, Chihaya._

A part of her knew she had to answer, she just didn't still know _what_ the answer was.

_I will always like Karuta… and Arata._

That consideration went back in her mind more and more often, as if it held the key. "He was talking about my Karuta style," she said to herself at the beginning, because for her everything leads to Karuta. It was a sincere yet incomplete answer.

Chihaya waited anxiously for the finals, because she knew Arata would be there: when she had him on the phone, his voice cold-nasal and fever-weakened, she felt her stomach twists in relief and disappointment because she wouldn't see and talk with him. Relief, because it had earned her some more time to understand what she felt for him; and disappointment, because they wouldn't meet before the students' tournament in July.

Chihaya looked around herself in search of an answer, wondering about to whom she could ask for guidance: Chitose probably would give her an unfit answers and she _felt_, without knowing why, that she couldn't talk about such a matter with Kanade or Sumire. In the end she talked with Michiru, whom was shocked to discover that her classmate wasn't as Karuta centered as she thoughts: Chihaya looked back at her amazed, because she liked Karuta and Arata. Karuta and Arata … her mind filled with the image of the boy playing, his movements meticulous and fluid like flowing water. Arata was like flowing water, strong and impetuous as it runs down a mountain's slopes, quiet and gentle as it crosses a plain, and she realized that she wished to lose herself in that water like a floating autumn leaf – that she wished _to drown_ in that water like Ofelia with flowers woven in her hairs.

«A childhood love stronger than distance, isn't it romantic? » Michiru sighed in the end with a dreamy face. «You have his cellphone number, so why don't you call him? Even if, if you ask me, a confession on the telephone isn't romantic at all. »

And so Chihaya started to wonder how tell Arata her feeling, writing messages that she didn't sent or a letter that she tore in pieces; by phone all she was able to do was talking about something else. The only solution she came by was to follow Michiru's advice and talk to him face to face, even if that meant waiting till July.

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― • ―

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«… and I suppose you'll prefer that lame game of yours than to assist to your sister's moment of glory. »

Chihaya had brought back to reality by Chitose's voice.

«Eh? What? Sorry _onee-chan_, I wasn't listening. »

Chitose rolled her eyes while their mother laughed, shaking the head.

«We were talking about your sister getting an important role in a TV series: on spring's holidays they'll shot in Fukui for ten days, and I think I should go to support her. »

«Oh … it'll be expensive, » Chihaya answered almost mechanically.

«That's true, but I didn't get a holiday in a long time: your father will be on a business trip, so it would be just me, and besides my boss will close the shop on this week-end, » she explained showing a date on the calendar. «If I organize the trip enough in advance, I might find a cheap train ticket and there's that friend of yours who lives there: next time you have him on the phone, could you please ask him if he knows a cheap yet decent hotel? »

Chihaya looked at her mother without seeing her, while those words sank into her: Chitose on TV? Shooting in _Fukui_? Asking _Arata_ about a hotel? She heard correctly, didn't she?

«I'll come too! » she exclaimed standing up suddenly, and then she blushed. «A-Arata has won against Shinobu-chan at last year's individual tournament, he could give me some advice… a-and then it will be good for me to confront myself with a different Karuta style if I want to become Queen, right? »

Chitose snorted in exasperation as she smacked her forehead. «I knew it... I knew that all you have in your head are those stupid cards! »

In the end, it was her mother who asked about the hotel to Arata's mother, to boot, since she knew better about the city's hotels and _ryokan_. As the two women were talking, Chihaya was there without listening: with her stomach fluttering, she was obliged once again to think about how let Arata knows about her own feelings.

_I am in love of you, Chihaya._

Michiru had told her that that was the worst confession she heard of, the times and the circumstances were anything but romantic, but that at the same time, for those same reasons, it sounded the most spontaneous and sincere: the words had been said without premeditation, in an emotionally strong moment, and that could be seen as a guarantee of the boy's feelings.

"I think I'll improvise too."

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**Author's note**

I don't remember when was the last time I stumbled on a manga or anime that involved me so much to give me a plot bunny, but here you go: my very first Chihayafuru's fanfiction. Unlike the original Italian version, I've prefered to split the English one into two chapters.

Thanks to all who, not only will read those words, but will leave a reviews as well.

Kindest regards,

D. Rose


	2. Chapter 2

_Dear reader,_

_before you start reading this little story, I would like to remind that English is not my native language and that, despite all my effort to present you a pleasant, grammar-correct text, the style may sound stiff or not so easy to understand. Please be sympathetic, knowing that I definitely accept all you have to say about how improve my skill._

_Have a nice reading,_

_D. Rose_

* * *

Chihaya and her mother arrived at Fukui in early afternoon, even though they had left in the morning to have lunch with Chitose: too late to reach her on the shooting location and too tired for a city tour, Mrs. Ayase thought it would be good manners to go at the Watayas' to thank them for their help. As Chihaya was standing there, next to her mother who was giving a box of sweets to Arata's mother, she thought that maybe coming there wasn't after all such a good idea and that maybe it would have been better to wait for July. The good thing was that right then Arata wasn't at home, and this at least would have made her earn some more time.

"Three days go by in a hurry," whispered a voice that was sounded like Michiru's when, half an hour later, Arata went back home from his part-time job.

_I am in love of you, Chihaya._

It was easier talking about the Karuta club that Arata had managed to create in his own school or about the students' tournament, just like it was easier talking about college.

«I hope Arata manages to become Meijin next year, so he will be able to get a scholarship: life in Tokyo is expensive, it would be easier for us if we don't have to pay for college expenses. »

_I am in love of you, Chihaya._

That sentence had an unexpected effect on two the two of them: if Chihaya managed to hide her own embarrassment concentrating on the tea cup in her hands, Arata's one was mistaken easily for modesty.

«Chihaya as well wish to become … Queen, but I didn't know that it could get you a scholarship! » Mrs. Ayase laughed.

As two women chatted about their children, the satisfactions and problems they gave them and their future, Chihaya felt the need to be elsewhere: her eyes met for a swift instant Arata's and she red in them the very same wish.

«What about a game? You have beaten Shinobu-chan in last year's individual tournament - Taichi told me you have played against Suou-meijin, » they said at the same time.

Their mothers looked both amused and bewildered, and if Mrs. Wataya giggled, Mrs. Ayase sighed.

«Your sister is right: all you think about is Karuta! » Still, her voice had a good-natured tone.

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Arata's style was like flowing water and Chihaya couldn't be a dam like Harada-sensei, nevertheless she could be like a salmon going back upstream or a canal leading water where she needed, yet … yet she still wished to lose herself into his rhythm as if she was an autumn leaf - she still wished to drown in his rhythm as an Ofelia with her hair woven with flowers - even if that would meant to lose the game. Her fingers managed to bypass his defense and the card hit the sliding door as it was opened, scaring the life out of their mothers.

«Chihaya, we have to go, » Mrs. Ayase said, looking somewhat relieved.

«Whaaat?! That was barely the … twenty-ninth _waka_, mom, and Arata has already a five cards lead on me! » she complained, picking up the card. «How could I be able to become Queen if I start interrupting a training game? »

Mrs. Wataya put a hand on the other woman's shoulder and smiled. «Don't worry, as soon as they finish, we'll take your daughter back to your hotel. »

Chihaya's mother looked at Mrs. Wataya, then her daughter and then again Mrs. Wataya, and then she agreed with a sigh.

Chihaya went back to her place and stared at her own cards, wondering which one she should pass to Arata.

_I think the red color of momiji passing through water represents the heart in love that, even apart, cannot exist unconcealed._

How many times had Kana-chan told her that, even after centuries, the feeling expressed by those poems was still alive? She breathed slowly, trying to remember every poem's interpretation, looking for the cards that would fit her feeling for Arata the best.

"Me too, I am in love with you, Arata," she thought every time she passed him a card.

At first Arata didn't took notice of which cards she gave him, yet after a little bit he stared Chihaya puzzled, as if a doubt had bloomed in his mind, which became a certainty as the game progressed.

Their hands touched in the same instant the card, their fingertips brushed, their faces so close that they could feel each other's breath. Perhaps it was Chihaya to lean over, or perhaps it was Arata, the point was that the card was forgotten; the stereo kept going on and, for the first of many times, a game wasn't finished. They had the uncertainty and awkwardness of a child who plays Karuta for the first time, who acquire certainty and experience with every single game, whose style takes shape slowly, and then it was nothing else left for them but lose themselves into each other's feelings, just like an autumn leaf loosing itself into flowing water.

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**Author's note**

Here it goes, the second part. I would like to write what happens next, but I don't know if I'll get the time, or the inspiration, but who knows? ;)

Thanks to all who, not only will read those words, but will leave a reviews as well.

Kindest regards,

D. Rose


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